


Late Night Shenanigans

by bonesnmemes, lyriumnug



Category: Purple Hyacinth - Ephemerys & Sophism (Webcomic)
Genre: Bakery and Coffee Shop, Dancing, F/M, Fluff, Late Night Conversations, Pie, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-19 00:08:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29741991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bonesnmemes/pseuds/bonesnmemes, https://archiveofourown.org/users/lyriumnug/pseuds/lyriumnug
Summary: "On a late night at the precinct, Lukas catches something he wasn't supposed to see."
Relationships: Lila Desroses/Lukas "Grumpy Cat" Randall
Comments: 4
Kudos: 31





	Late Night Shenanigans

He was looking for coffee again. Late nights at the precinct would be unideal without his perfect partner, a freshly brewed cup of black grinded coffee beans made of only the finest of grounds. 

"Damn! Where are all the mugs?"

Lukas searched the room for a single mug, but his efforts were in vain. If all else failed, he could just drink directly from the pot. Who would be daring enough to judge him? 

With pot in hand, the ever tired cop walked back to his office. It was brighter than it should have been at this hour. For some reason the radio was on, music playing faintly through radio static. Looking around, his eyes widened in surprise right in their tracks.

Through the window, the moon falls so softly on Lila, giving her an almost angelic glow. He observes her, wondering why she had been lingering at the precinct past her clocked in hours as of late. 

His heart transversely skips a beat and he stumbles at the sight of Lila. Involuntarily moving the coffee pot to his chest, he attempts to protect himself from these unknown feelings. Shaking his head, his bangs move across his face as he continues to observe the girl, no woman, in front of him. 

"Yes! Yesyesyesyes!!" She exclaimed triumphantly, throwing her arms in the air. Lila does a little dance on spot, holding the phone in the crutch of her neck as she lifts her heels and smiles pleasantly.

Lukas jumps in surprise. The pot he was holding slips from his grasp and, before he knows it, fragments in pieces all over the hardwood floor. 

The noise startles Lila, and she turns around to the source of the accident, only just then noticing the spilled coffee on the floor. Her hands go up to her mouth involuntarily, realizing that Lukas dropped his favorite coffee all over the precinct tiles.

"L-Lukas! H-How, uh, how long have you been there?" She stammered, eyebrows furrowing in embarrassment. 

"Not that long...but long _enough_." He replies, a grin that could be almost sinister spread across his face. "You seem rather pleased, Miss Desroses." 

" _You weren't supposed to see that_." 

Lila, in her fluster, turned her attention towards the broken pieces of glass and spilled coffee surrounding his feet. She quickly walked over and kneeled by his feet, wiping up the dark liquid with her handkerchief. 

"Apologies. I was distracted." He says deftly as he kneels down besides her. "You don't need to clean up my mess, but I appreciate the offer." 

Lukas reached for the handkerchief in Lila's hands, startling her at the touch. Her hands felt so smooth, Lukas could have melted away with the feathery trace of his fingers on the ridges of her hand.

Not expecting his hands to be so soft, Lila jumped like a cat touching cold water, jerking her hand away from his broad palms. As it moves away rapidly, it grazes past a large piece of glass that wedges right into her palm. 

He reacts the instant she winces by grabbing her palm and facing it upwards for inspection, examining the gash with his stormy eyes. She looks distracted by her embarrassment despite the pain. 

Lila takes her other hand and gently grabs him. “I-I’ll be fine, I promise! I was just a little shocked by you being here so I gasped. You don’t need to worry about me!” She said with an embarrassed giggle. 

Lukas’s brows furrowed in response, as his eyes fixate not on the cut, but the sight of how small her hands look in his. 

“Are you daft, woman? You have a piece of glass in your hand. Of course I'll worry about yo..i-it.” He shook his head to clear his thoughts of their touch then stood and pulled her up beside him. “Stay here; I’m going to get a first aid kit to patch up your hand. Don’t even think about continuing to clean this mess.”

Lila sits daintily so as not to ruin her dress as she watched him leave the room. His footsteps were so loud. The thought of him reaching for the first aid kit completely takes her thoughts away from her bleeding hand until he appeared through the doorway again. 

Lukas kneels down besides her, gently taking Lila's wrist and resting her hand upwards on his knee. He takes a cotton ball from the kit and pats the blood away before getting a small strip of gauze and bandaging the wound. 

"It's unusual for you to be so...uncareful. Sorry, again, for hurting you."

"Oh, the hand? That's all on me." She laughs, tilting her head sideways happily. "Just being clumsy, I guess." 

"I meant hurting your _feelings_ . I wasn't supposed to see whatever... _dance_ that was, was I?" He asked languidly, savoring the question he knew made her squirm. She was so cute when she squirmed. He had compared her to a raspberry in his mind: small and adorable.

Lukas took her hand a bit tighter and raised them from the ground. "I'll clean the shards if you explain what that was. I _must_ know."

Biting her lip, she debated whether or not it's worth it to let a man like Lukas know the reason behind her excitement. It was something insignificant and silly. 

“I guess I’ll tell you. In all honesty, it’s because I found out my favorite bakery is still open this late. The dance is...something I do when I'm happy.” She turns red as a tomato after admitting her secret as her cheeks heat up. Lila feels like she has a fever. "Don't you have something you do to show you're happy?"

"I'm never happy, Lila." 

"Oh, come on, Lukas. There has to be something that makes you happy. Breaks?"

"No."

"Coffee?"

"Slightly more content."

"Well…" She trails off, at a loss for words. Lila finds it impossible for him to not find joy in anything. Maybe it is her stubborn determination, but she is going to make him happy. With the [ music ](https://youtu.be/XGxJdID13k4) playing on the radio, she quickly is inspired. 

Lukas kneels back down to the floor to pick up the medical kit. As he rises, his eyes meet Lila, now holding the edges of her skirt by her finger tips, curtsying like a princess. 

"Would you care to dance, Miss. Desroses?" 

She gulps before moving into his personal space and taking his hand in hers gently, resting her hand on his broad shoulder. Lila is not brave enough to bear whatever his expression is, so she keeps her eyes glued to her ballet flats. "I-If you will. I know this is kind of stupid and childish and you _probably_ think I'm crazy. _Argh,_ I'm so-"

Before she can think, he takes his hand and rests it on her hip, so small in it's hold. "I don't dance...but I owe you. Tell no one I broke the pot and tell NO ONE of this." 

"I-I promise!" She rushes, looking straight into his dark brown eyes as he sways her. Lila could get lost in them. 

They glide across the floor; it creaks with every one of her timid steps and his, more firm and planted. "Is this your happy dance, Lukas? You seem strangely good at this. N-Not that I didn't expect it."

"My parents made me take lessons. It was for some idiotic reasoning like I needed to be like a proper gentleman. Here I am though: a cop. Useless waste of time." He muttered, focused more on his posture than his story. "So no, this isn't exactly what I'd call my happy dance." 

She faltered a little and tried to let go. "Oh, I had no idea! We don't have to dance any more. This was already kind of weird, wasn't it? Stupid idea I had." 

"It's not like you knew. I make a considerable effort for people here to know as little about me as possible." Lukas replies, keeping his gentle hold on her hand, trying to weave her small fingers through his. "You're the only one who knows, so now...we're even."

"I-I guess we are, then. But why haven't you let me go? We can stop now." 

"Dancing is keeping me awake. There isn't any coffee." 

_Right!_

She remembers that the whole reason they're in this position is because she made him drop the pot. Lila knew that he couldn't survive without coffee. She hadn't seen him in withdrawal but if she had, she wouldn't live to tell the tale. 

"Would you, er, like to walk home with me? T-To the bakery, I mean! NotmyhomeIdidn'tmeanthatatall." She panics, feeling her hands sweat in his. "They have tiramisu and espresso! They're not really my favorites. I usually get key like pie, but I've heard those are good! I can pay."

He lets out a light laugh under his breath that comes off unintentionally sinister. "It wouldn't be very gentleman-like of me to make you pay. I actually enjoy key lime pie as well. I wouldn't mind sharing." 

Lukas let's go of her and grabs his jacket before turning off the radio. Lila stands there, stunned but with a smile creeping onto her face. _He liked the same pie as her?_ She snaps out of her reverie when she feels the tap of his elbow on hers. 

“I’m a cop, Lila. I should be comfortable escorting a woman to her home at night. With how you look, you could tempt many criminals.” 

“How I _look_?” 

“Y-You know... _womanly_ , like a princess, gentle, delicate, kind, you...you know what I mean.”

Lila heated up, overwhelmed by Lukas’s comments on her appearance. Had she really appeared so beautiful to him? He equated her to a _princess_. Should she consider this forward of the notorious office Grumpy Cat? 

She hesitantly hooks onto the crook of his arm, silently marveling over how toned his biceps are. The couple walk out of the precinct, and the cold chilly air blasts the pair right when they step outside. Lila realizes she forgot her jacket upstairs, lifeless on her chair. Her shivers in the crook of Lukas’s arm alerts Lukas and he looks at the poor kitten on his arm, freezing to death. 

Deftly taking off his jacket, he leans over Lila to wrap the tan cloth over her shoulders. Moving back, he catches a whiff of her dandelion scent and smiles under his breath. It brings him back to her scent on the coffee mugs she brings him in the morning. 

“Won’t you be cold, Lukas?” 

Lila hugs the jacket closer to her, and revels in his sandalwood scent that lingered in it. She's not sure whether it's the jacket or the fact that Lukas gave up his for her, but her heart warms and her eyes brighten at his response.

“A chill is nothing as long as you’re warm. Next time, just don’t forget your jacket.” His implication of a next time flusters him, but Lukas outwardly plays it cool, overlooking the twinkle that appears in Lila’s eyes. 

The stars shine on the couple as they walk in a comforting silence that takes years of understanding and office glances to understand. The soft light of the lamp posts glow gently on them as they reach their destination, Lukas opening the door before ushering Lila in.

The bakery is cozy, and Lukas thinks this is exactly the type of place Lila would enjoy. He goes and sits down at a table, as Lila walks up to the cashier. As he watches her small form happily take their order, he feels his heart race in his chest. 

That smell, that hair, those sparkling brown eyes like pools of melted toffee. Lukas sits there and tries to decipher the palpitations in his heart but shoves the thought back down as she gleefully makes her way to their table near the window. 

She sets down their order: two white cups, one of black coffee, the other hot cocoa, and a singular slice of key lime pie. He raised an eyebrow at the sight of another fork in her hand. 

“Oh! This is my favorite thing so I'm treating myself." She smiles, taking her seat and scooting it closer to him, making him heat up. "I'm not _too_ hungry, though. The portions are always _really_ big. Would you be alright having some?"

They both flush at the thought of doing something as intimate as sharing a slice of pie, but it doesn't stop Lukas from grabbing the second fork and taking a small bite off the tip. She watches in anticipation, eyebrows furrowed. 

"Well? What do you think?"

"It's...pretty good." 

Lila lips curl up into a grin, dimples proudly defined on her cheeks as she takes her own bite off the side of where his was. 

Lukas tries not to stare, but he can't help but look at those perfectly pink lips pucker at the tartness of the citrus. The way they glided off the fork, slowly so as to get every last bit of the filling off the utensil, was something that made _him_ pucker. He feels his cheeks heat up, and he focuses on the pie again, ignoring the woman sitting adjacent to him. 

They finish their treats and beverages quicker than expected, and the late hour rings through the cafe as the clock strikes 3am. Jolting at the sound, Lila looks around for the time before gasping. “Oh my! It’s so late! I’m so sorry for keeping you here at the bakery. You could’ve gone back to the precinct by now.” She fiddles with her fingers, unable to look at Lukas’s stormy eyes as she knows he might be angry.

His response leaves her shocked, and Lila's not sure if this is the man she has been crushing on all this time. A dark husky chuckle buzzes from his lips before he retorts, “Well, I’ll keep that in next time we have our little bakery encounter. We’ll just simply get here earlier.” 

"N-Next ti-"

"Wait." He directs, putting his index finger over her lips. When he knows she will be quiet, he adjusts his hand to hold underneath her chin and smudge her cheek with his thumb. "You had some cream on your cheek." 

She blinks at him, unsure how to respond. How could she possibly? The man she had longingly looked at every day, 9-5, wasn't just giving her the time of day, but touching her face. She looked up in his gentle hold. 

"T-Thank you."

Lukas doesn't reply but instead raises from his chair and holds out his hand to her, looking away and rubbing the back of his neck with his other hand. "Ready to go?"

"I think so." 

She sets the fork down on the plate and takes his hand. As they leave the shop, she slowly feels him intertwine their fingers. Lila gasps a little and almost stops in her tracks until Lukas urges her forward. 

"W-What are you do-"

"We're just holding hands. Is this uncomfortable for you? My apolog-"

"No no no! I just…" She trailed off as they walked down the cobbled sidewalk, a lump in her throat. "is there meaning behind this?"

He coughs a little into his elbow and tries his best to look at her with eyes that are slightly more soft than usual. "There...could be meaning. Do you want there to be meaning? I'm not too articulate. Am I being too forward, Lila?" 

She bites the inside of her cheek as they walk and slowly moves a bit closer to him. "I don't think so." 

Feeling bold, Lukas leans in and rests his forehead on top of hers, closing his eyes and relishing in the fact that they are closer than before. His lips gently lay at her brow-line and he whispers, feeling them move along her skin. “Sorry I took so long."

"I forgive you." She breathes in, her exhalation cloudy in the cold wind.

"Well then, let’s do this more often, shall we Lila?”

Leaning into his embrace, Lila feels a deep sense of satisfaction and comfort knowing Lukas would be right by her side.

“Sure. Next time, though, let’s try another pie.”

Lukas hums in agreement, and the pair stay like that for a bit, with the stars shining softly on them and the air painting a picturesque scene of a girl and a boy, slowly falling in love with one another.


End file.
